Fairmont Prep Looks Like an Open Division Men’s Basketball Team – Orange County Register

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – Like it or not, the Fairmont Prep men’s basketball team may have boosted its candidacy for the CIF Southern Section’s Open Division.

The Huskies defeated Capistrano Valley Christian 72-67 on Tuesday in a San Joaquin League game at Capistrano Valley Christian High.

Fairmont Prep senior guard 6-5 Chol Deng led all scorers with 28 points and 11 rebounds. Capistrano Valley senior 6-3 guard Christian Mac West scored a top 24 with 11 rebounds for the Eagles.

Fairmont Prep, improved to 10-3 overall and 3-0 in the league, and Capistrano Valley Christian (13-3, 1-1) is on the “watch list” of Open League contenders Southern Section’s elite expansion. Several members of the Open Division selection committee were at Capistrano Valley Christian on Tuesday.

The Open Division watchlist launched Monday with 24 teams for what is expected to be an eight-team division. The list has been published in alphabetical order.

It looks like more teams are strong contenders than Fairmont Prep for the Open will include teams from different CIF-SS divisions. Fairmont Prep is classified as a Division 1 team through the CIF-SS strength point system, but is not among the top 16 teams of Division 1.

Still, the Fairmont Prep’s quick attack, space eatery and overall athleticism may have impressed the Open Division committee members at Capistrano Valley’s tiny gym on Tuesday.

Fairmont Prep coach Joedy Gardner was asked after the game if he thought the Huskies had proven they were Open Division material.

“No,” he quickly replied. “We’re not quite there.”

For the first three quarters, Fairmont Prep seems to have gotten there. The Huskies took a 61-40 lead in the fourth half.

But their public goods struggled in the fourth quarter. Fairmont Prep took just 1 of 9 shots in the final half and got 8 of 10 points in the 4th quarter at the free-throw line.

Fairmont Prep 6-5, Chol Deng, scores 27 points in the Huskies’ 72-67 win over Capistrano Valley Christian@ocvarsityLIVE@ocvarsityguyLIVE pic.twitter.com/glJx0g5m4h

– Steve Fryer (@SteveFryer) January 12, 2022

Fairmont Prep, number 4 in Orange County’s top 25, shot better than District 3 Capistrano Valley that Christian did in the Eagles gym. Huskies took 25 of their 57 shots (44%), including 6 for 16 of 3 pointers. Capistrano Valley Christian is 26 for 65 (40%) on all shots, 4 for 19 in 3 seconds.

The Eagles have struggled to find quality shots inside. Area 2-3 of the Huskies has 6-8 juniors Collin Acheampong and 6-5 Deng on the outside, and a 7-foot tall Maper Maker freshman in the middle.

“That was the strength of our team,” Deng said of the area. “We work on it as a team every day.”

Deng in previous seasons has shown strength and speed when slamming the ball into the basket. On Tuesday, he showed that he’s developed a pull-up, creating several of them in the 14-16 foot range.

“He’s doing his mid-range shot,” said Gardner. “He hasn’t been able to do that scene for the past two years. The last two days he started doing it and tonight he hit a couple of big hits. ”

Capistrano Valley Christian’s fourth-quarter rally was led by West, who scored 11 points for the quarter, and junior guard Ariik Mawien, who scored seven of his 18 points in the final inning. The Eagles rally became more hopeful when Fairmont Prep senior guard Myles Che fouled in the fourth half after scoring 16 points.

Fairmont Prep took a 66-56 lead with less than two minutes to play. Mawien scored after an attacking rebound to make it 66-69 with 1:03 remaining, his dribble on a pass from Makaih Williams made it 67-61, and Mawien’s 3-pointer hit in 18 seconds to score 67- 64. Fairmont Prep senior guard Kristian Jemerson made five free throws in the remaining time to secure the Huskies victory.

The teams play against each other on January 27 at Fairmont Prep.